Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
Which is the best country in the world?
January 27th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
“International Living” magazine judged 191 countries on their cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate. France came top for the second year running. You can see why here. Britain only ranked 37th. A spokeswoman for the magazine said: “Britain is still relatively high on the list […]
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Who is Klaus Schwab?
January 26th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
He is the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum which has been meeting annually in Davos, Switzerland, for the past 36 years. Klaus himself is a German-born 68 year old academic who has been a professor of business policy at Geneva University since 1972. Last year, I was at a conference in Geneva […]
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Only the little people pay taxes
January 21st, 2007 by Roger Darlington
“Large corporations and wealthy individuals are increasingly avoiding their obligation to contribute to society through taxation. With the aid of governments, they are shifting the tax burden further onto ordinary citizens and smaller businesses. Governments claim that revenues are too low to achieve social justice through decent public goods and services; privatisation and cuts in […]
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“The Threat To Israel’s Existence”
January 19th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This was the title of a lecture that I attended last night – the sub-title was “Why it’s back and what it means”. The address was given by the American academic Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum and author of 12 books on the region. The event was held at the School of […]
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Forgotten world (60): Iceland
January 19th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Dominated for centuries by Norway and Denmark, Iceland became an independent republic in 1944. It only has a population of 292,000, but its citizens enjoy a standard of living among the highest in the world. For many years, the country’s prosperity depended on the fishing industry. While fish still makes up a large proportion of […]
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Forgotten world (59): Morocco
January 18th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Morocco – population 32 million – is the most westerly of the North African countries known as the Maghreb. Strategically situated with both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, but with a rugged mountainous interior, it stayed independent for centuries while developing a rich culture blended from Arab, Berber, European and African influences. Morocco was a French […]
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He’s running …
January 17th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A month ago, I finished a blog posting by writing “Just watch this man run …” I was refering to Barack Obama and the race for the Democratic nomination for the US Presidential election. Well, now we have the news that he has announced the formation of a committee to explore support and funding and […]
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Forgotten World (58): Canada
January 17th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia (9.9 million sq km or 3.8 million sq miles), but it hardly features in media reports aound the world. At 32 million, its population is only about one-fifth of Russia’s and nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200 km of the border with the […]
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Forgotten World (57): Uttar Pradesh
January 16th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
There are endless reference in the media to India as a nation, usually focusing on its size (more than a billion people) and its growth (annual rate of around 8%). But there is little media reporting to illustrate the sheer scale and diversity of the nation. The largest of India’s 28 states is Uttar Pradesh […]
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Forgotten World (56): Belgium
January 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
On 11 occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature on NightHawk devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. You can check out the previous 55 entries here. This week, I am going to run an 12th series of postings on this theme. In December 2006, Belgians reacted with […]
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